In order to be successful, merchants must be able to reach customers and retain them as long term, recurring clients. For on-line merchants, there are a variety of techniques to obtain customers. For example, a merchant may utilize pay-per-click keyword advertising and pay-per-click comparison shopping referral fees. Because of competition from many merchants and because shoppers on the Internet are often price-sensitive, the merchant may offer a price with a reduced profit margin to achieve better placement on a comparison shopping service. If an on-line merchant often completes sales to new customers at a reduced margin or at a loss, it is especially important to convert customers into repeat buyers. To build long term relationships, merchants may provide coupon codes for future orders, contests, or email newsletters. Another method to build and maintain relationships with clients is through direct mail approaches of sending catalogs, brochures, or postcards to present and prospective customers.
Shoppers generally desire the ability to compare multiple different products to determine the product that best suits their needs. Product catalogs are a good way of providing the shopper the ability to do this comparison. One form of a product catalog is a printed catalog that is sent by a merchant to a potential customer. Printed catalogs, however, are generally expensive, require advanced planning, have pre-determined shipping rules and are hard at times to create. Furthermore, printed catalogs often carry items that do not generate a lot of sales or attract customers to the merchant's store.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method that facilitates the efficient creation of a product catalog from on-line stores and the activity of their visitors. The method is extendible to other documents.